The UNCAF Nations Cup 2009 was the tenth edition of the

UNCAF Nations Cup The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

, the biennial

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament for the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

-affiliated national teams of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. The first five places qualified for the

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United Stat ...

. The event was going to take place in

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

between January 22 and February 1, 2009, but the Panamanian FA announced that they would not host the event due to not having an adequate stadium available for the time period of the tournament. The alternative hosts were Honduras and Guatemala. Honduras submitted an official replacement bid on November 12, and after some consideration it was moved to Honduras. All games were played in

Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa ( )—formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz''—is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its sister city, Comaya ...

. The tournament was sponsored by

Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican-based Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 25 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Samoa, St. Lucia, Surinam ...

. On 1 February 2009 Panama won the tournament, the first UNCAF Nations Cup win in the country's history.

Participating nations

All seven

UNCAF The Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (Central American Football Union), more commonly known by the acronym UNCAF, represents the national football (soccer), football teams of Central America: Belize national football team, Belize, Costa Rica na ...

members participated in the tournament: * * (Defending Champions) * * * (Hosts) * *

Squads

Stadium

First round

The group stage draw took place on December 9, 2008 in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

. The reigning champions, Costa Rica, and the hosts, Honduras, were automatically drawn as top seed in their respective groups. Costa Rica was paired with

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, the first two runners-up from the

2007 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup was the ninth version of the biennial association football, football tournament for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America. The event took place in San Salvador, El Salvador from February 8 to February 18, 2007. I ...

. The remaining teams – El Salvador,

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

– were drawn into the same group as Honduras.

Group A

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Group B

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Final round

Fifth place

The winner of the fifth place match qualified for the

as the fifth and final entrant from Central America.

Semifinals

All four semifinalists qualified for the

. * ''The game was called after sixty minutes of play when El Salvador was reduced to six players. Two El Salvador players, Alexander Escobar and

Eliseo Quintanilla Eliseo Antonio Quintanilla Ortíz (born 5 February 1983), nicknamed El Cheyo, is a Salvadoran former professional footballer. Club career Nicknamed ''Cheyo'', Quintanilla started his professional career at Salvadorian giants FAS, making his p ...

, were awarded red cards in the first half, and Deris Umanzor, Rodolfo Zelaya, and goalkeeper Juan José Gómez were injured and had to leave the game after El Salvador had already exhausted their three substitutions. The game was awarded 3–0 to Costa Rica''WASHINGTONPOST.com – Monday Kickaround
– 2 February 2009

Third place

Final

Results

* ''Top 5 qualified to the

.''

Scorers

;3 goals * Andy Furtado ;2 goals *

Alfredo Pacheco Alfredo Alberto Pacheco (December 1, 1982 – December 27, 2015) was a Salvadoran footballer who had the record for most appearances on the El Salvador national football team when he was banned for life in 2013, for match-fixing while playing fo ...

* Samuel Wilson * Walter Martínez ;1 goal * Alberto Zapata * Ricardo Phillips * Lisbey Castillo * Jerome James * Harrison Róchez * William Sunsing * Roberto Segura * Álvaro Sánchez * Pablo Herrera *

Marlon Medina Marlon José Medina García (born 6 March 1985) is a Nicaraguan association football, footballer who currently plays for Deportivo Ocotal in the Primera División de Nicaragua. Club career Medina started his career at hometown club Real Estelí ...

* Armando Reyes * Juan Barrera * Marvin Chávez * Mario Rodríguez * Saúl Martínez *

Carlos Pavón Carlos Alberto Pavón Plummer (born 9 October 1973) is a Honduran former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of the best Honduran footballers in history, and by most as the nation's greatest player ever. Mos ...

Emil Martínez Emil José Martínez Cruz (; (born 17 September 1982) is a Honduran former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Martínez made his professional debut for Marathón and played abroad for Alajuelense in the Primera ...

Amado Guevara Amado Guevara (born 2 May 1976) is a Honduran former professional footballer and manager. He was the coach of Puerto Rico from 2018 to 2019. A former midfielder, he is the second all-time cap leader for the Honduras national team seconded by ...

Roger Espinoza Roger Aníbal Espinoza Ramírez (; born 25 October 1986) is a Honduran former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or defender. Espinoza currently serves as a youth coach for Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City. A form ...

* Minor López * Ramón Sánchez * Carlos Ayala ;1 goal (Own Goal) *

Silvio Avilés Silvio Ernesto Avilés Ramos (born 11 August 1980) is a Nicaraguan footballer who currently plays for Managua in the Primera División de Nicaragua. Club career A leftback, Avilés started his career at Diriangén and also played for Walter Fe ...

''(for El Salvador)'' * David Solorzano ''(for Honduras)''

References

External links

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup at CONCACAF.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nations Cup 2009 in Central American football

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2008–09 in Salvadoran football 2008–09 in Costa Rican football 2008–09 in Honduran football 2008–09 in Guatemalan football 2008–09 in Nicaraguan football 2008–09 in Panamanian football 2008–09 in Belizean football Football competitions in Tegucigalpa 21st century in Tegucigalpa